How Palm Re-Enabled iTunes Sync • Hacker News Board

Re: How Palm Re-Enabled iTunes Sync

#11

Post by huhtenberg » Fri, Jul 24, 2009, 9:50 PM UTC

Palm should've kept using their own USB ID and Manufacturer string, and allow users to override them to impersonate an arbitrary vendor. Including, of course, Apple. This way the Palm is in the clear, and it's the user that is responsible for the actual act of vendor/device impersonation.

But all things considered, all this will simply lead to Apple ditching USB or layering a custom encrypted protocol on top of it. So Palm's current hack is a temporary solution.

Re: How Palm Re-Enabled iTunes Sync

#12

Post by lallysingh » Fri, Jul 24, 2009, 10:23 PM UTC

huhtenberg wrote: post #11

Palm should've kept using their own USB ID and Manufacturer string, and allow users to override them to impersonate an arbitrary vendor. Including, of course, Apple. This way the Palm is in the clear, and it's the user that is responsible for the actual act of vendor/device impersonation. But all things considered, all this will simply lead to Apple ditching USB or layering a custom encrypted protocol on top of it. S…

I'd guess the USB Vendor ID switch was to trap Apple into matching vendor IDs, so that they'd have a case with the forum. That's my assumption, as apple's response was obvious from the moment the Pre came out.

Re: How Palm Re-Enabled iTunes Sync

#13

Post by Skeuomorph » Sat, Jul 25, 2009, 2:45 AM UTC

I'm still trying to figure out why iTunes only talking to iPod is (according to Palm) any more of a USB agreement violation than Nikon Capture only talking to Nikons, HP printer software only talking to HPs, or any other vendor software/vendor hardware combination that only works with the vendor's devices.

Palm's confused if they think a compatibility check is a violation as opposed to, say, faking a hardware vendor ID. USB hardware IDs and network MAC addresses clearly have to respect the vendors' address spaces or the hardware standard falls apart.

Seems more likely this is a play to, yes, have the Palm device get press, but also ensure their site gets Page Rank from all the unique news articles' and blog entries' inbound links.

Re: How Palm Re-Enabled iTunes Sync

#14

Post by mcav » Sat, Jul 25, 2009, 4:36 AM UTC

Skeuomorph wrote: post #13

I'm still trying to figure out why iTunes only talking to iPod is (according to Palm) any more of a USB agreement violation than Nikon Capture only talking to Nikons, HP printer software only talking to HPs, or any other vendor software/vendor hardware combination that only works with the vendor's devices. Palm's confused if they think a compatibility check is a violation as opposed to, say, faking a hardware vendor…

It's one thing to only be compatible with one device, but it's an entirely different matter to actively prevent other devices from working. I'm pretty sure no other camera companies are trying to get their cameras to work with Nikon Capture.

Re: How Palm Re-Enabled iTunes Sync

#15

Post by fatdog789 » Sat, Jul 25, 2009, 5:29 PM UTC

Skeuomorph wrote: post #13

I'm still trying to figure out why iTunes only talking to iPod is (according to Palm) any more of a USB agreement violation than Nikon Capture only talking to Nikons, HP printer software only talking to HPs, or any other vendor software/vendor hardware combination that only works with the vendor's devices. Palm's confused if they think a compatibility check is a violation as opposed to, say, faking a hardware vendor…

The USB spec requires that USB devices be connected-device agnostistic. That is, they must be capable of communicating with any device, over USB, that knows the proper codes/bytes/etc.

Hiding the codes/keeping them secret, like most vendors do, is okay -- the USB spec does not require disclosure.

BUT changing the codes to prevent interoperability is prohibited by the USB spec b/c it defeats the whole point of the USB spec.